(meteorobs) Observation July 6/7 2008

[Pierre Martin]

On my way back home from Restoule Park, I noticed the skies  
continuing to look nice and clear.  I decided to stop at Bootland  
Farm (which was along the way) to spend the night there.  Mosquitoes  
became a serious nuisance at dusk, but vanished completely just an  
hour later.  Above the north-western horizon, I was treated to a rare  
display of noctilucent clouds, floating at the edge of space.  I  
rushed to get my camera/tripod and captured the scene...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/13845235@N03/2748943742/sizes/o/

This night offered an excellent transparency (about 4.5/5).  The  
Milky Way was thick and structured all the way to the southern  
horizon.  Despite the long drive following the star party, packing  
and unpacking, etc.. I felt very alert for this night.

After spending some time with my telescope, I finished the night with  
a two hour meteor session, recording 19 meteors.  Most were  
sporadics, but a couple of early Alpha Capricornids appeared.  The  
brightest meteor was a mag 0 sporadic that left a 1 sec train.

The price to pay for such a great sky was the extreme dew.  At the  
end of the night, my scope and lawn chair were drenched in water and  
my primary mirror was soaked.  I could have left my scope in the rain  
and I doubt it would have gotten wetter.  But it was worth it :)  A  
quick rinse of my mirror with distilled water the next day easily  
took care of the dew stains.

Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario


DATE: July 6/7 2008
BEGIN: 0505 UT (0105 EDT) END: 0720 UT (0320 EDT)
OBSERVER: Pierre Martin (MARPI)
LOCATION: Long: -76 29' West; Lat: 45 23' North Elevation: 400 ft
City & Province: Bootland Farm, Ontario, CANADA
RECORDING METHOD: talking clock/tape recorder, plotting
----------------------------------------------------------

OBSERVED SHOWERS:_______________________________radiant position
ANT (Antihelions)_________________________________19:48 -20
JAD (July Andromedids - non IMO shower)___________01:40 +47
CAP (Alpha Capricornids)__________________________19:04 -16
SPO (sporadics)
----------------------------------------------------------

OBSERVING PERIODS: 0 = none seen; / = shower not observed

PERIOD(UT)___FIELD____Teff____F______LM____SPO_ANT_JAD_CAP

0505-0610___1928+08___1.00___1.00___6.63___6___1___0___2
0610-0720___2039+10___0.98___1.00___6.63___8___2___0___0

TOTALS:_______________1.98_________________14__3___0___2  = 19

Note: The first column (Period UT) refers to observing periods broken  
down as close as possible to one hour of true observing, in Universal  
Time. The second column (Field) is the area in in the sky where I  
centered my field of view. The third column (TEFF) represents  
effective observing time (corrected for breaks or any time not spent  
looking at the sky). The column (LM) is the average naked eye  
limiting magnitude, determined by triangle star counts. All following  
columns indicate the number of meteors for each shower observed.
------------------------

MAGNITUDE DISTRIBUTIONS:

SHOWER
______0__+1__+2__+3__+4__+5______AVE

SPO___1___0___4___0___7___2_____+3.29
ANT___0___1___0___2___0___0_____+2.33
CAP___0___1___0___1___0___0_____+2.00

Note: Magnitude -8 is comparable to a quarter moon, magnitude -4 with  
the planet Venus, magnitude -1 with the brightest star Sirius,  
magnitude +2 to +3 with most average naked eye stars and magnitude +6  
to +7 are the faintest stars the naked eye can see under typical dark  
conditions. A meteor of at least magnitude -3 is considered a  
fireball. The above table contains the magnitudes from all observed  
meteors, and the average (last column) for showers.
------------------------

SKY OBSCURED (FOV) (UT): None

------------------------

Dead time: 16.63 min (incl breaks and plotting time)

Breaks (UT): 5:49-53, 6:24-33